Jabra’s Elite 85h wireless headphones with ANC go up against Sony and Bose

Jabra is looking to bolster its position in the high-end headphone market this year with its new Elite 85h. The headphones are one of the most premium offerings from the company at $299 (Dh1,099). Featuring active noise cancellation, wireless connectivity and USB type-C charging. They aim to directly take on other alternatives such as Bose’ QC35II or Sony’s WH-1000XM3.

Features

With the Jabra Elite 85h’s standard wireless Bluetooth connectivity, it can connect to a number of smartphones and accessories. In addition, you will find support for popular virtual assistants such as Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. The former two will work on iOS or Android respectively but Amazon’s Alexa will work on both software platforms. The unique aspect about Jabra’s Elite 85h is that the assistants can be triggered by voice as opposed to a dedicated button that we have seen from other headphones in the past.

The headset also bundles active noise cancellation with a new sound adjustment technology called Smart Sound. This is useful to customise audio profiles based on your surroundings. Commute, In public or In private are the three options available at the moment. Jabra’s companion app will enable you to set the volume, noise cancellation and equalizer settings within these profiles. But so far, the Jabra Elite 85h does not allow users to customise what environmental cues trigger certain profiles.

There are eight microphones on the headphones. Two of these are for noise cancellation, two are for Smart Sound while the other four are for hands-free calling and voice assistant control. Aside from that, there is also a rugged aspect to the headphones. The on-board IP52 rating means the headphones will stay relatively safe from water and dust.

Alongside support for USB type-C charging, Jabra claims the Elite 85h offers up to 32 hours of music playback with noise cancellation. This number drops though if you set the headphones to listen out for a wake word.

Budget-friendly headphones?

In addition to the Elite 85h, Jabra also launched the budget-friendly Move Style Edition. This offers an on-ear listening experience and builds on the previous Jabra Move headphones.